Mango and Coconut Scone

Now that we are well into spring, the grocery stories are overflowing with fresh fruit and vegetables. I picked up some assorted fruits and my mind was on baking.

Cakes, muffins or scones?

Scones are undoubtedly one of my favorite snack.  While I frequently bake cherry or cranberry scones, I have never baked mango scones. This seemed to be the perfect time to experiment with baking a mango scone.

I have a standard healthy recipe for scones I use. and here is the version adapted for a mango scone.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 stick  butter (or add more for a flaky scone)
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cardamon powder
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup + a little more coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder,cardamon powder,  and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut in the cold butter or use your hands to mix in. Add buttermilk and mix in. Fold in diced mango and coconut flakes and pecans and mix gently into a ball.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a  circle and 1/2 in thick slab and cut into triangles or scoop 1-2 tbsp onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper.  Brush with some melted butter and sugar crystals (optional). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 12 scones.

Enjoy a warm scone with some butter or jam or as is with a nice cuppa tea or coffee. Or Glaze with some mango flavored icing for a sweeter scone.

If not ready to eat, you can  freeze the scones in a freezer bag. When ready to eat remove from freezer and let it return to room temperature or pop it in a microwave for 10-15 seconds and it is ready to eat!

Note: I tend to use less sugar and less butter. For a sweeter and more flaky scone adjust sugar and butter to suit your personal preference.

Part Whole Wheat White Chocolate and Raspberry Scone

I’ve always had a soft spot for Scones. My all time favorite has always been an Orange Cranberry Scone.

There are certain combinations of ingredients that are repeatable and are usually found in abundance. One such is raspberry and white chocolate. I absolutely love the Haagen Daz White Chocolate and Raspberry Ice Cream.

It has rained all weekend long…we even got some flurries towards the end. It was a perfect time for a good book, some warm spicy tea and some scones! This recipe is adapted from here. As always I replaced, 1/3 white flour with whole wheat. Use all white if you must.

 

I just used up all the buttermilk I had, so I decided to take the old fashioned approach that my mother usually took at home, to make fresh buttermilk from fresh home-made yogurt. I had asked my sister to bring a device to churn yogurt into buttermilk last year, so I was able to make the first use of it!

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup fresh raspberries

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut in the cold butter or use your hands to mix in. Add buttermilk and mix in. Add the white chocolate chips and fold in the fresh raspberries and mix gently.

Brush with some melted butter and sugar crystals (optional).

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a 7 in circle and 1/2 in thick slab and cut into triangles or scoop 1-2 tbsp onto a baking pan lined with aluminium foil. The beauty of scones is, the shape is irrelevant. It always states good!

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy with a refreshing cup of tea!

 

 

Orange Cranberry Scone!

Finally!

I got to make my favorite scone! For a while this used to be my favorite breakfast. Each day as I headed to work I made a stop at the local Starbucks and picked a coffee and scone (typically orange cranberry if they had one). Yummy!

I still had fresh cranberries and oranges left over after the Cranberry Orange Bread I baked last week. The weather was gloomy with overcast skies and periods of rain. After the beautiful, warm fall weather we’ve been having, it was a sharp contrast to have the temperature dip into the 50’s. Time to turn off the air condition and turn on the heater!

It was definitely the perfect day to turn on the oven and do some baking…

As usual I scoured the web for the perfect recipe with the condition that I would try one if I had all the ingredients already in my pantry. So here is my final adapted version:

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1 cup fresh cranberries
Orange rind from 1 orange
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Take cold butter and cut into cubes and add to the flour. Put the bowl in the refrigerator. In a separate bowl whisk egg, buttermilk and orange rind. Place the bowl in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare parchment paper or baking dish to bake the scones.

Remove the dry ingredients. Either chop the cranberries or use whole (I used them whole) and add to the dry ingredients. Mix well with a spatula or hand. Add the egg buttermilk mix and mix thoroughly. Prepare the counter top table with some flour. Roll out the mixed dough into a 1 in thick circle. Cut the circle into 8 or 10 wedges. Or use a cookie cutter for more fancy shapes.

Bake on a parchment or baking dish for 13 – 15 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and cool.

Serve warm scones with either orange marmalade or raspberry jam. Or glaze scones with some orange glaze and serve warm with tea or coffee.

Yum!